|
Leslie Hopkinson |
|
Research Watershed Response from Shale Development This research assessed impacts of drilling for gas in the Marcellus shale in White Day Creek watershed in northern West Virginia by monitoring water quality. This work is in collaboration with the WV Water Research Institute and is supported by the Department of Energy.
Geomorphic Landform Design The goal of this research is to investigate geomorphic reclamation approaches applied to surface mining methods. This work is in collaboration with the WV Water Research Institute and is supported by the US Geological Survey and the Office of Surface Mining.
Stability Impacts from Stream Restoration We are working with the Biological Systems Engineering Department at Virginia Tech to analyze the turbulence generated among the three restoration techniques in the Stream, Research, Education, and Management (StREAM) Laboratory. This work will provide better understand the influence of the restoration techniques on channel stability. Partial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE IT Program under Award HRD-1007978.
Turbulence in Storm Flows While considerable research has been conducted on the role of vegetation in reducing streambank failure, significantly less is known about vegetation’s influence on fluvial erosion and the incipient motion of streambank sediment. The goal of this research is to quantify the relationship between streambank boundary shear stress and streamflow characteristics as the stream experiences channel forming flows.
Riparian Vegetation in Stream Restoration Stream restoration designs frequently involve establishing vegetation on the bank face and floodplain to increase streambank stability, prevent erosion, and promote sedimentation. Often, lower streambanks are seeded with a wetland seed mixture and herbaceous tubules are planted in a regular pattern. This study examined the influence of a stream restoration planting scheme (combination of grasses and herbaceous plants) on the hydraulic forces applied to the streambank. This work was supported by the STC program of the National Science Foundation via the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics under the agreement Number EAR- 0120914.
Streambank Vegetation and Stability This study examined the role of riparian vegetation form on the hydraulic forces applied to the streambank. A second order stream was modeled in a scaled flume experiment with no vegetation, woody vegetation, and grass on the sloping streambanks. The research was partially funded in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship Program.
|
|
Leslie Hopkinson Assistant Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering Rm. 649 ESB 304-293-9932 Leslie.Hopkinson@mail.wvu.edu
|